A Green and Prosperous

Pontiac

Discussion Paper on Transitioning Pontiac Towards the Post-

Carbon Future

An initiative of Sophie Chatel, M.P. for Pontiac

Contents A Green and Prosperous Pontiac .................................................................................................................. 2

I. Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 2

1. Defining the Challenge ................................................................................................................. 3

2. How Will Our Economy be Transformed? ................................................................................... 6

3. Key Risks, Uncertainties and Questions ....................................................................................... 7

4. “We're Not in Kansas Anymore!” ................................................................................................. 8

II. An implementation strategy for Pontiac ............................................................................................... 9

1. A regional coalition around Canada’s climate plan .................................................................... 10

2. Why at the level of a federal riding? ........................................................................................... 10

3. The Challenge of Regional Implementation ............................................................................... 11

4. Green Transition for Pontiac: Prosperity, not Poverty! .............................................................. 12

III. Roadmap for a Strategic Framework ................................................................................................ 13

1. Mobilizing Local Leaders ........................................................................................................... 14

2. Form Strategic Advisory Groups ................................................................................................ 15

3. Prepare a Holistic Regional Framework ..................................................................................... 15

IV. Calendar ............................................................................................................................................ 18

V. Conclusion: A Framework for a Green and Prosperous Pontiac........................................................ 18

Annex .......................................................................................................................................................... 19

For Further Reading .................................................................................................................................... 21

A Green and Prosperous Pontiac

I. Introduction

The extreme flooding in B.C. this November comes only months after wildfires in the province levelled

the village of Lytton. The Lytton inferno laid bare how nature can turn our communities to ash. Across

Canada citizens accept that climate change poses a threat, but few communities are prepared for the

transition to a low carbon future. This paper advocates for the development of a strategic “framework” for

the federal riding of Pontiac. If Canada is to reach its goal of net zero in 2050, Canada's climate strategy

must include a strategy for local communities to navigate a pathway towards sustainable prosperity.

Although not a jurisdiction, for diverse rural ridings, the Federal MP plays a unique mediating role that

enables them to rally local entrepreneurs, officials, and citizens around the 2050 net-zero goal. A green

plan for a household, farm, medium-sized enterprise, municipal government, or MRC will not be the

same, but they do intersect, and could benefit from being synchronized to a shared vision and regional

road map.

Some might question writing a paper focused upon a Federal riding. A riding is not a jurisdiction; it has

no formal powers, funds to disburse, or responsibilities. Neither are riding boundaries stable; they are

periodically redrawn. The fundamental duty of a Member of Parliament, however, is to serve their

constituents. The process for creating this strategic framework must not override established jurisdictions

On the contrary, Pontiac’s great strength is the high caliber of its elected officials, the ingenuity of

regional entrepreneurs and the engagement of its citizens. But in a riding spanning more than forty

jurisdictions, deputies can empower their constituents by: mobilizing local actors to meet the net-zero

challenge; helping overlapping jurisdictions to coordinate their policies for mutual advantage; drawing

upon federal, provincial, and regional expertise and resources to increase the capacity of remote

communities to develop more integrated strategic plans; and advocating for reforms to Federal programs

that cut unnecessary red tape and secures public investment process to support keystone projects.

2030 represents a pivot point where a disruptive basket of technologies will coalesce into the green

economy of the future. Key to getting Pontiac on a pathway towards sustainable prosperity is to empower

local communities to craft integrated development plans that are better aligned with the conditions of the

future. This also represent a golden opportunity for MRCs and local communities to revamp their 25-year

master plans. Local engagement represents the key to devising innovative solutions that will enable

Canada to meet its net-zero goal, and for building the political consensus to see us through the decades

ahead. At the local level, environmentalists and entrepreneurs are neighbors and many local organizations

cross party lines. A federal deputy serving all constituents can mobilize, empower, and coordinate

regional planning efforts to smooth a pathway for sustainable prosperity.

After exposing the state of play, this paper proposes a three-pronged approach to lead our communities

towards prosperity. First, a region-wide consultation process can unite key regional actors to discuss the

risks and opportunities relative to the net-zero goal. Second, strategic working groups could translate local

discussions into innovative projects and best practices that could be shared across the riding. Third, a

“Green paper” could encapsulate our discussions and discoveries, and could serve as a practical guide to

our local leaders in drafting integrated plans to put their communities on the pathway to net-zero and

seize opportunities for growth, while ensuring the welfare for all.

Although the challenges we face are great, our communities are strong, resilient and creative. Together,

we can build a better future!

1. Defining the Challenge

A. At a Tipping Point

A half degree Celsius is imperceptible in a bathtub. For complex systems like climate, small increments

could prove catastrophic by pushing species into extinction or degrading fragile ecosystems into a less

productive new normal.1 Over the last decade, city managers have coped with the corrosive impact of

climate change upon local parks, buildings and public infrastructure. Given an accelerating rise in

atmospheric carbon, things will get worse.2 Devasting wildfires will become more common, deadly

heatwaves will intensify, invasive species like the gypsy moth, blue algae and grub will wreak havoc

upon local environments. Recurring “storms of the century” will increase the costs of property damage

and generate more catastrophic failures of infrastructure.3

Some businesses and many communities have started to include climate change and reducing carbon

emissions into their formal plans, but this has mostly been incorporated as a cosmetic lens. Towns,

businesses and households have not adequately priced in the inflationary shock of decarbonization.

The global economy evolves according to longer, roughly sixty-year Kondratieff cycles during which the

production complex, resource inputs and technologies underpinning the economy shift. At the tail end of

a cycle, productivity lags because input costs rise as the resources fueling the production complex run

short, and global trade and investments become misaligned with the more productive sectors. Secular

forces are already eroding the carbon sectors of the economy, and paving the road towards a greener and

cleaner future. Most economists estimate that we have already reached the tipping point where the global

1 The principal threat of climate change is not rising temperatures but loss of biodiversity. Like a safety-net at

Cirque du Soleil, when you cut too many links in the web, the system’s integrity fails. We stand at the tipping point

where environmental problems manifest into economic shocks. For example, once the glaciers feeding the rivers of

Northern India melts away, 200 million subsistence farmers will become refugees. Once Lake Powell runs dry, the

Central Valley will no longer be able to provision our winter tables. We cannot overhaul our agricultural system

overnight, so we need to take proactive measures in the window we have left. See Lester Brown, World on the Edge:

How to Prevent Environmental and Economic Collapse. 1st ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2011.

2 Two decades ago, climate scientists warned world leaders that 400 PPM represented a redline. International

inaction resulted in the world blowing by this threshold in 2016. Currently we stand at 419, and this number will

continue to rise even if we could transition to net-zero tomorrow. The most recent IPCC report sounded the alarm,

noting an acceleration in the pace of global warming, which means that extreme weather events are likely to

intensify and increase in frequency. See IPCC, “Climate change widespread, rapid, and intensifying,” Update,

August 9, 2021. (Accessed November 10, 2021). https://www.ipcc.ch/2021/08/09/ar6-wg1-20210809-pr/

3 The goldilocks Earth that we grew up in is dead and gone. See Bill McKibben, Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough

New Planet. 1st ed. New York: Time Books, 2010.

costs of mediating natural disasters will start to exceed the massive sum necessary to decarbonize the

economy.4 If we fail to plan for the rising costs of climate mitigation, the infrastructural damage, crop

losses, disruptions in the supply chain and a rising cost for doing business will exponentially grow in the

decade ahead. One analysis regarding infrastructural maintenance revealed a 10:1 payoff in terms of

insulating local infrastructure to prevent the high costs associated with catastrophic failure.5 Increasing

local resilience, adopting smart design principles and investing in clean technology are not policies

motivated by environmental virtue, but cost-effective necessities to insulate our communities from future

shock events.6

The table in annex profiles how climate change will ravage local lakes, structures and woodlands, as well

as various mitigation strategies.

B. The Challenges that Canadians Face

Canada’s contemporary prosperity is inextricably linked to fossil fuels. Only in 1887 did the joules

extracted from carbon surpass those from biomass sources like wood and soil. After World War II,

petroleum supplanted coal, and cheap oil supercharged a golden postwar recovery that made it possible to

integrate working families into the ranks of the middle class and to offer both a safety net and universal

access to health care, housing and public education. The petro-industrial complex is deeply embedded,

not only in our economy, but also in how our cities are built, the machinery of modern government and

how we think about our world. Canadians, of course, are aware that rapid population growth, laissez-faire

development policies and reliance on fossil fuels has damaged the Earth’s living systems.7

Accepting climate change, however, does not mean that Pontiac’s leaders have

internalized the full ramifications of what “decarbonizing” the economy entails.

Neither are most of entrepreneurs or households prepared for the inflationary shock

that is about to hit our wallets. For those whose livelihood is closely tied to the

petroleum complex, moreover, the transition to the green economy will prove painful.

4 B. M. Sanderson and B. C. O’Neill, “Assessing the costs of historical inaction on climate change,” Sci

Rep 10, 9173 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-66275-4 and Simon Dietz, James Rising, Thomas Stoerk,

and Gernot Wagner. “Economic Impacts of Tipping Points in the Climate System.” Proceedings of the National

Academy of Sciences - PNAS 118, no. 34 (2021): 1–. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2103081118. 5 ISSD, “Advancing the Climate Resilience of Canadian Infrastructure: A review of literature to inform the way

forward,”July 2021, (Accessed October 10, 2021).

https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2021-07/climate-resilience-canadian-infrastructure-en.pdf

6 The ‘smart’ design concept has overlapping dimensions from reducing the carbon footprint, to ecological

resiliency, to incorporating technology for more effective monitoring to making our cities more vibrant and livable.

See Angelakis Vangelis and Elias Tragos, Henrich C. Pohls, Adam Kapovits, and Alessandro. Bassi. Designing,

Developing, and Facilitating Smart Cities Urban Design to IoT Solutions. 1st ed. 2017. Cham: Springer

International Publishing, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44924-1.

7 David Pimentel estimates that the contemporary economy already stands at 150% carrying capacity, meaning that

we are exhausting renewable resources like fossil water, arable land, fishing stocks and old growth forests to meet

the demands of current consumption. Overdrawing renewable resources leads to ecosystem collapse to a new less

productive normal. See Pimentel, World Soil Erosion and Conservation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,

1993.

Fortunately, we stand at the brink of a major technological revolution that could dramatically accelerate

productivity and even raise Canadian living standards in the decade to come. It is estimated that at least

80% of the technologies that we need to meet our net-zero target by 2050 already exist. The “green”

challenge is, therefore, primarily a strategic one. Can we craft policies that enable us to not only

decarbonize Canada’s economy, but also provides the support and runway necessary for small businesses

and municipal governments in Pontiac to adjust?

While Canada’s 2050 net-zero goal will require a complete overhaul of our economy, history also reveals

plenty of examples of societies that turned adversity into opportunity. Postwar Germany and South Korea

inherited far worse situations and orchestrated economic miracles that unlocked decades of high growth.

In communities across Quebec, various green pilot projects are being deployed and many innovative

solutions already exist. For local leaders strategic planning is familiar terrain, even if the scope of the

current challenge is unique.

City leaders, as masters of local dossiers, and intimately familiar with their

communities, are best placed to innovate and tap overlapping provincial and federal

financing programs to realize milestone local projects that could accelerate the

process of decarbonizing the economy.

Many citizens groups too, have developed innovative programs for protecting biodiversity, promoting

communal well-being or addressing alimentary insecurities. What is often missing is plan that can

coherently address the ecological, social and economic vectors that will disrupt our communities and

necessitate a corresponding revolution in the structure of our governments. We are entering a decade of

extraordinary change as three vectors will intensify in magnitude, and increasingly converge by 2030 into

the green economy of the future:

1. Disruptive technologies (that is, innovative technologies that end up replacing dominant

technologies) will coalesce into a new economic model that will supplant the petro-industrial

complex and fundamentally change how things are produced, how citizens move, current

patterns of trade and finance, contemporary patterns of work, even the fabric of our cities;

2. Rapidly rising costs for mitigating the adverse impacts of climate change will force

consumers, businesses and governments to become more resilient and change how they

consume, and how they operate and manage risk;

3. The 2050 net-zero goal will force politicians, entrepreneurs and citizens to reimagine their

communities and collaborate to finds innovative solutions that mediate between ecological,

social and economic needs.

C. How will Pontiac be Impacted?

For most rural areas, transitioning our economy away from carbon, making infrastructure more resilient

and leveraging breakthrough technologies will require a coherent vision, a multidimensional strategy, and

strong leadership.

Building out the infrastructure for the green economy of the future will also require

up-front investments inside a Federal system of government where municipalities are

already underfinanced, are struggling to meet existing mandates and confronting

traditional challenges like a lack of affordable housing and an aging population.

Although local entrepreneurs have proven resilient in responding to a global epidemic, they also confront

many barriers relative to accessing the skilled labor, critical technology and capital markets that will be

necessary to align their businesses to the post-carbon future. Citizens of Pontiac, however, can take solace

in the fact that we have been here before. Over the last two centuries we have lived through three

structural revolutions, and we will meet the net-zero challenge as our ancestors survived the decline of the

certain industries and adapt to emerging ones.

2. How Will Our Economy be Transformed?

2030 looms as critical pivot point where the world economy will flip from reliance on carbon to a more

sustainable model. The winners in the economy of the future will be those that have prepared for this

transition. Those left behind will confront a dim future of rising costs and insurmountable debt. Although

local leaders do not have a crystal ball, we can engage in forecasting because many current trends have

considerable momentum. Examining innovation in various technological clusters, incorporating data from

climate models and consulting the timelines for international commitments and public financing for green

infrastructure, enables us to discern the pillars of a greener economy predicated upon digital technologies,

electrification, smart design and more localized production chains.

• Electrification of Transport: By 2030, electronic vehicle sales in Canada will capture

between 25-50% of the market. Subsequently, the internal combustion engine will be

rapidly phased out as the electric vehicle revolution overhauls long-haul freight, public

transportation and personal mobility, lowering costs, reducing congestion and improving

rural access to services.8

• Rollout of the Smart Grid: By 2050 electricity consumption will double, so by 2030

pilot projects for the smart grid will have matured into significant programs for public

investment that leverage advances in renewable energy, energetic efficiency, batteries,

analytics and smart meters.9

8 The CEO of Mobileye predicted that robo-taxis will start disrupting urban transport by 2023 and autonomous

driving would be scaled into private vehicles by 2030. Sensing technology and machine learning is advancing

rapidly, even if the rollout of autonomous vehicles will obviously be shaped by regulation. See Frederico Cugurullo

and A. Ransford, Maxime Gueriau, and Ivana Dusparic. “The Transition to Autonomous Cars, the Redesign of

Cities and the Future of Urban Sustainability.” Urban Geography 42, no. 6 (July 3, 2021): 833–59 and McKinsey,

“Urban commercial transport and the future of mobility,” McKinsey Report, September 13, 2017, (Accessed

November 10, 2021)

https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/business%20functions/sustainability/our%20insights/urban%20com

mercial%20transport%20and%20the%20future%20of%20mobility/an-integrated-perspective-on-the-future-of-

mobility.pdf

9 Given the decarbonization of freight and industrial sectors of the economy, electric consumption will double by

2050, necessitating major public investment in electric grids, their modernization and their redesign to a distributed

• Rural Gentrification: By 2030, the digital divide between the rural and urban

communities will evaporate as fiber optic lines, cellular towers and satellites bring a

denser network of high speed communications to remote communities, while a culture of

teleworking, will accelerate the gentrification trend from rim communities like Chelsea

and Luskville, towards Fort-Coulonge and Maniwaki, raising municipal tax revenue, but

also requiring strategic investment and disrupting local property markets.

• Rising Costs of Climate Mitigation: By 2030, extreme weather events will necessitate

higher public investment to repair infrastructure, more sophisticated post-disaster

response mechanisms and investments to make local infrastructure more resilient.

• Food Insecurity: By 2050, global fresh water shortages, changing rainfall patterns,

extreme weather events and soil exhaustion will cause a rise in the price of agricultural

land and commodity prices.

• Shrinking Supply Chains: By 2030, geopolitical turbulence, unstable global supply

chains, new production methods and the sharing economic model will combine to

revolutionize the transportation, construction and manufacturing sectors of Canada’s

economy, while rendering many professions connected to the carbon production complex

obsolete, forcing workers to renew their skillset.10

• Carbon price: By 2030, the rising price of carbon will force established industries like

agriculture, forestry, construction, and light industry to adjust their business models in

order to prosper, but small business owners, clean tech innovators and those connected

tourism will see their prospects brighten.

3. Key Risks, Uncertainties and Questions

A key element in strategic planning is aligning current policies with the secular trends that will reshape

society, the economy and our environment. But history shows that many policy initiatives die upon the

shoals of local shores for failing to secure local buy-in. Successful implementation recognizes that local

leaders are best placed to identify key risks and opportunities, and respond to emerging threats and

opportunities. In imagining the future and crafting strategic plans, local leaders will need to negotiate

eight key challenges and risks:

1. Decarbonizing Local Businesses: Adopting cleaner technologies and less-intensive methods

will be expensive and require local entrepreneurs to innovate, tap investment capital, and

draw upon a workforce with a 21st century skillset to revamp their business. Will local

power model. See US Department of Energy, “Vision for a Smart Grid,” DOE White Paper, June 2009. (Accessed

November 10, 2021) https://netl.doe.gov/sites/default/files/Smartgrid/Whitepaper_The-Modern-Grid-

Vision_APPROVED_2009_06_18.pdf

10 Travis Buholz and Alissa Burger, Sue Gander, Brad Nelson, Ben Prochazka, Natalia Swalni, “Electrifying

Freight: Pathways to Accelerating the Transition,” https://www.electrificationcoalition.org/wp-

content/uploads/2020/11/Electrifying-Freight-Pathways-to-Accelerating-the-Transition.pdf

entrepreneurs, workers and future generations benefit from technological trends or will

foreign investors, big tech corporations and foreign engineers reap all the rewards?

2. Affordable Housing: Without affordable housing in the near term, entrepreneurs in rural

communities will not be able to attract workers, expand their businesses or retool their

enterprises.

3. Reconciliation with Indigenous Communities: Indigenous communities confront

overlapping barriers that impede their acclimation to the post-carbon economy. How can they

participate in regional planning and benefit from unique financing streams? How can

reconciliation and decarbonization be linked?

4. Supply Chain Disruption: Rising costs tied to the disruption of the Covid epidemic, as well

as structural problems in industrial food and Post-Fordist production chain, risks disrupting

local strategic plans. Not getting affordable access to green technology represents an acute

risk particularly for poor households and small enterprises lacking capital reserves, access to

credit or financing.

5. Food Security: Much of the food on our tables comes from farms thousands of miles away.

Higher prices are an early warning that this industrial food production system predicated

upon limited arable land and fresh water is reaching an immediate limit, that it is vulnerable

to climate shocks, and that our food supply is insecure. In the case of inevitable alimentary

shock events, prices will climb and our poorest citizens will be the hard pressed.

6. Insufficient Capacity: Various Federal and Provincial regulatory mandates are likely to

increase the burden upon small communities and without improving financial resources or

capacity they may struggle to implement innovative policies.

7. Access to Financing: Local homeowners, entrepreneurs and municipal governments may

struggle to access financing for the green transition because these programs are not

transparent enough, or the process of applying for these funds is too onerous.

8. Populist Backlash: Without adequate consultation, or sufficiently rigorous programs for

retraining, environmental policies could suffer a populist backlash.

4. “We're Not in Kansas Anymore!”11

Technological and climate change will transform our social and economic landscapes; it will be necessary

to show resilience and solidarity, and to change our strategies in order to quickly adapt to this new reality.

Some could question the consequences of environmental policies on the economy.12 In truth, carbon

11 Dorothy's new environment after a tornado brought her to the Oz’s world was completely different from her

native Kansas. This classic American literature and cinematography speaks of resilience (this deep capacity to adapt

to difficult situations and grow) and human solidarity. 12 This politics works because of an engrained perception about a tradeoff between environmental protection and

economic growth; a duality promoted by the neoliberal rules written into the economic system. See F. Dodds

Michael Strauss, and Maurice F. Strong. Only One Earth: the Long Road via Rio to Sustainable Development.

Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2012.

pricing is only a mechanism to accelerate a secular trend towards decarbonization that is already well

underway. Regardless of what policies Canada will adopt over the next decade, the new technologies at

the heart of what some may call the Fourth Industrial Revolution will converge in the “green economy”.13

Rooted in their local community, certain local leaders may view the future solely in terms the local

community and the most pressing issue, but may be ignoring that we stand at the cusp of a structural

revolution that will shift how we live, work and moveSuccessful local leaders need to anticipate how

disruptive technologies and emerging trends will combine to provide their communities with strategic

opportunities to reduce costs, accelerate certain forms of development and provide more efficient ways to

deliver critical services.

Already new technologies and new methods and materials are disrupting the construction, transportation,

agriculture and energy sectors of the economy. Over the next decade innovation in multiple sectors will

start to converge into the infrastructure of the “green economy”. This is because when disruptive

technologies are rolled out at scale, costs rapidly plummet, they accelerate economic productivity and

revolutionize the structure of how we make things, live and work. For Pontiac to be in a position to

benefit from such secular trends, however, we need to reimagine current challenges more squarely in the

context of the vectors that will reshape the cities of the future. With limited capital, success will be

measured relative to investments that align with future trends rather than sticking to business as normal

and risk sinking precious funds into projects that have no future. Given that our current economy,

machinery of government and process of planning is in subtle ways implicated with the petro-industrial

complex, imaginative and bold steps are necessary to reorient our communities towards future trends. If

we do not act decisively and soon, the degree of misalignment between our current policies and the

landscape of the future will accelerate, as will the costs for transition.

A key element in long-range planning is distinguishing between what we know for certain, from tends

that we cannot quantify, and outlier events which we cannot anticipate.

Successful implementation requires strategic plans with clear objectives, concrete

metrics, and the agility to respond to emerging threats and opportunities.

II. An implementation strategy for Pontiac

Necessity is the mother of invention. The Lytton fire appears to have opened a window where municipal

leaders, farmers and entrepreneurs have accepted that we can no longer afford business as usual. While

Canada is an old and stable democracy, navigating towards a net-zero economy will be complicated by

regional disparities and the national economy’s reliance on carbon. While the green economy of the future

could ultimately deliver a higher standard of living, over the immediate term, the demise of the petro-

13 Economic historians have disputed whether we are at the cusp of the Fourth Industrial Revolution or entering the

next stage of the Third. Regardless, the next decade represents a period of ‘revolution’ in the sense that clean

technologies will not only supplant those of the petro-industrial complex, but will engender a social transformation

in terms of how we live, work and relate to nature. For a more in depth discussion, see Klaus Schwab, The Fourth

Industrial Revolution. First U.S. edition. New York: Crown Business, 2016 and Jeremy Rifkin, The Third Industrial

Revolution : How Lateral Power Is Transforming Energy, the Economy, and the World. 1st Palgrave Macmillan

pbk. ed. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.

industrial complex will disproportionately hit rural communities, poor households and workers and

businesses in the oil sector.

1. A regional coalition around Canada’s climate plan

For Canada to navigate towards a net-zero economy, politicians need to build coalitions around a coherent

program for restructuring, clearly spelling out the rationale for substantial upfront investments, and

calling for the sacrifices necessary to reap future productivity gains many years down the line. The same

logic applies at the riding level. Navigating a pathway to net-zero will depend upon rallying City

Councils, the Chambers of Commerce, farmers and indigenous communities around the collective goal of

prosperity. To win support for “green” reforms in isolated communities, it is important to frame policy

concepts into everyday language and contour it better to the realities on Main Street, highlighting the

irreversible and secular nature of technological change and strategic opportunities for investment.

Another important dimension of branding reform is to incorporate strategic planning into the moral vision

of the Canadian ideal. To preserve the Canadian welfare programs and ensure a better future for our

children we need to meet the 2050 challenge.

2. Why at the level of a federal riding?

Some might question writing a paper focused upon a Federal riding. A riding is not a jurisdiction; it has

no formal powers, funds to disburse, or responsibilities. Neither are riding boundaries stable; they are

periodically redrawn. The fundamental duty of a Member of Parliament, however, is to serve their

constituents. Certainly, no MP can encroach upon the authority and responsibilities of local officials or

municipal governments. On the contrary, Pontiac’s great strength is the high caliber of its elected

officials, the ingenuity of regional entrepreneurs and the engagement of its citizens. But in a riding

spanning more than forty jurisdictions, deputies can empower their constituents by:

• mobilizing local actors to meet the net-zero challenge;

• helping overlapping jurisdictions to coordinate their policies for mutual advantage;

• drawing upon federal, provincial, and regional expertise and resources to increase the

capacity of remote communities to develop more integrated strategic plans;

• advocating for reforms to Federal programs that cut unnecessary red tape and secures

public investment process to help constituents realize keystone projects.

An integrated approach to implement Canada’s climate plan and post-covid economy recovery

3. The Challenge of Regional Implementation

Implementation represents the next critical step in Canada’s transition to the post-Carbon future.

Reorienting local economies to meet the 2050 net-zero goal will not be easy. To navigate the shocks of

climate, post-pandemic recovery, technological disruption and the rising price of carbon, our communities

need to take decisive, early action to put local institutions on a pathway towards sustainable prosperity.

Given that Pontiac is diverse and features many small municipalities, our riding could particularly benefit

from a strategic framework that would enable our communities to move from reacting to crises to

anticipating them and proactively seizing opportunities.14

Across our riding there are already a thousand points of light; entrepreneurs, visionary officials, ambitious

students and world-renowned experts that are already finding solutions for the complex problems of the

14 More than half of Pontiac’s population lives in Northern suburbs or exurban communities like Chelsea, Cantley,

Luskville and Cantley that are quite tightly linked to the National Capital Region. Most of the rest of the riding

could be defined as ‘rural’ with economies focused on small towns. Pontiac also contains over 900 PhDs and nearly

20% are below the poverty lines. See Statcan, « Census Profile, 2016 Census : Pontiac, Municipalité régionale de

comté [Census division], Quebec and Quebec [Province], (accessed November 14, 2021)

https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-

pd/prof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=CD&Code1=2484&Geo2=PR&Code2=24&SearchText=Pontiac&Search

Type=Begins&SearchPR=01&B1=All&GeoLevel=PR&GeoCode=2484&TABID=1&type=0

Green and prosperous

Pontiac

Canada’s Climate Plan

• Target, Regulations, and investments

Entrepreneurs’ innovation

Regional and

Community Organizations

Citizens’ Actions and buy-in

Provincial’s support and investments

Federal’s support and investments

Municipal Support and investments

Indigenous communities contributions

future.15 A strategic framework could bring focus to our efforts, enabling us to share best practices and

pool our resources for mutual advantage.

Although there are already hundreds of industry reports, master plans and papers addressing a range of

topics from climate change, to electric vehicles and food security and public transportation, this paper is

focused on empowering local communities in Pontiac to adapt to the post-carbon future.

For Canada to meet its 2050 net-zero goal, remote communities, small business owners and rural

municipalities will need to navigate this transition towards a post-carbon future. In diverse ridings like

Pontiac, this will require an integrated approach that links economic, social and environmental goals, that

leverages diverse Federal and Provincial financing programs, and empowers local governments and small

businesses to meet the challenge of new regulations, higher prices and a disruptive basket of technologies.

The good news is that we do not need to reinvent the wheel. We are surrounded by innovative ideas,

programs and politics. The goal of this paper is to survey the best practices employed in communities

across Quebec and Canada, to draw lessons from history, to dig into secular economic trends and to

reconcile these insights with the concrete realities of Pontiac. Although the challenges we face are great,

our communities are strong, resilient and creative. Together, we can build a better future!

1.

4. Green Transition for Pontiac: Prosperity, not Poverty!

For ridings like Pontiac, the importance of adopting an inclusive framework for collective prosperity is

magnified given that the riding contains many marginalized communities, two indigenous communities,

an aging population, many economic sectors connected to intensive fossil fuel use, and a disproportionate

number of citizens living near the poverty line. Without a concrete plan to offset the high upfront costs for

decarbonization, or a coherent political strategy for adapting local business and institutions, climate

policies risk amplifying current disparities and may trigger a gilets jaunes style backlash that could

paralyze structural reform, or even bring it to a halt.16

15 All across Pontiac people are tapping into the climate crisis and devising solutions. See Jonathan Dekel, “This

small town wants to become Canada’s first net-zero smart community — but first it has to tackle its energy

challenge, Mars Blog, September 28, 2021 (Accessed November 10, 2021) https://www.marsdd.com/news/this-

small-town-wants-to-become-canadas-first-net-zero-smart-community-but-first-it-has-tackle-its-energy-challenge/

And FCM “One mayor’s approach to managing his community’s assets: The small municipality of Pointe-Fortune,

Quebec, takes asset management seriously,” FCM Blog (Accessed October 9, 2021) https://fcm.ca/en/case-

study/mamp/one-mayors-approach-managing-his-communitys-

assets?_cldee=Yy5ncmVlbkBjaGVsc2VhLmNh&recipientid=contact-e7c43922ded9e61181c0005056bc2daa-

187e004c6f4c4ae5a9c69a9d9880ddc1&utm_source=ClickDimensions&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=FCM

%20Voice&esid=9c0b61ae-ad40-ec11-80da-005056bc7996

16 The Federal and Provincial policies to buildout the infrastructure of the future still need to be put into place. Given

the Federal system of government, investment for the green transition will take various forms ranging from public

investment for infrastructure, to tax incentives, subsidies and accessing private capital markets. “The trillion dollar

climate finance challenge (and opportunity),” 27 June, 2021. (accessed October 11, 2021)

https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/06/1094762

The key dimensions of an inclusive prosperity are the following:

• Fairness. How can the cost for structural transformation be equitably distributed between the

three levels of governments; what subsidies are necessary so that the poor meet their obligations;

what the tax measures could help the wealthiest to contribute to our collective prosperity?

• Affordable housing. How can future strategic plans be supplemented to ensure that growth does

not leave the poor behind and that affordable housing units are constructed and that everyone has

the dignity of having a home.

• Safety net. Strategic plans need to provide mechanisms that enable every citizen basic access to

food, schooling, and health care.

• Re-training. Strategic plans need to anticipate disruption in the labor market by providing

vocational training for in demand fields.

• Indigenous Inclusion. Strategic plans need to incorporate indigenous communities in the fabric

of regional planning.

• Reconciliation. Strategic plans to overhaul government and the economy, need to account for

historic injustices and not aggravate existing disparities.

III. Roadmap for a Strategic Framework

For Pontiac to reach sustainable prosperity, important decisions need to be made now. In particular local

actors need to devise strategies to seize strategic opportunities and profit from the 2030 pivot point where

the vectors driving green economy will reach critical mass. The diversity of our riding provides an

additional rationale for a more coherent strategic framework that could help local stakeholders to better

identify the challenges ahead, to assess future risks, and scout out potential opportunities.17 Strategic

planning isn’t a new concept. All communities have longer range goals, the MRCs have master plans, and

communities like la Pêche have already devised integrated plans that creatively link the economic, social

and ecological dimensions of development.18

17 Given the high upfront costs for green transition, the 1/3 apportionment formula will probably not be adequate for

municipal communities. See Global Cities Council, “PLANNING FOR AN URBAN FUTURE OUR CALL FOR A

NATIONAL URBAN STRATEGY FOR CANADA,

FEBRUARY 2018, 32p. (Accessed November 10, 2021). https://globalcitiescouncil.ca/wp-

content/uploads/2018/02/CGCC-National-Urban-Strategy-Report.pdf

18 See, for example, MRC Pontiac, “Pontiac Vision 2020; Strategic Plan,” http://www.mrcpontiac.qc.ca/wp-

content/uploads/Diagnostic-MRC-de-Pontiac_en.pdf

and MRC des Collines, “Transcollines Strategic Plan 2019-2023,” 16p. (Accessed November 10, 2021).

https://transcollines.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Planif_Strategique_synthe%CC%80se_AN.pdf. Most

masterplans are short-term and topically focused. The municipality of La Pêche is quite unique in featuring a more

sophisticated integrated plan linking ecological, economic, social and cultural goals, but the plan is largely

aspirational and theoretical rather than identifying specific projects or laying out concrete metrics. See « 2019-2022

Strategic Plan, » 21p. (Accessed October 12, 2021) http://www.villelapeche.qc.ca/downloads/Politiques/2019-09-

18-plan-strategique-an-web.pdf. Gatineau covers just under half of the riding’s population, but only recently adopted

a climate plan that is general and does not factor in the future increase in the price of carbon or climate mitigation.

1. Mobilizing Local Leaders

To catalyze longer range thinking and a more holistic approach to strategic planning, the first challenge is

to mobilize local stakeholders. Most entrepreneurs, city councilors and citizens are aware of climate

change, technological disruption and the business of government, but a process of consultation could help

them to see how current challenges constitute an existential crisis that will require an urgent, focused and

robust response. The MP, by networking with prefects and mayors, tapping experts such as Conseil

régional de l'environnement et du développement durable de l'Outaouais (CREDDO), reaching out to

citizens, and engaging local and advocacy groups can serve as the catalyst for defining what is important,

for reimagining our communities and taking more concerted action. Citizens already keenly aware of

local challenges, but few current master plans fully capture the broader context of climate change,

technological change or federal net-zero policies.19 During the mobilization phase, local stakeholders

need to be invited to think outside-the-box, to consider how climate change, higher carbon costs and new

technologies will disrupt how they traditionally do business. To catalyze the strategic planning process,

the MP could partner with the MRC wardens to organize a series of consultation tables (Pontiac, Vallée-

de-la-Gatineau, des Collines as well as Kitigan Zibi). The purpose of these consultations would be to

initiate a dialogue between local stakeholders with experts in various portfolios like affordable housing,

agriculture and public transportation so that local communities could get a clearer picture of the deeper

sectoral trends reshaping the energy, construction, transportation, and agricultural sectors of the

economy.20 Simultaneously, local stakeholders could illuminate the challenges and opportunities within

their particular communities, bringing renewed focus to strategic planning and creating conditions for

innovative solutions that fit the local community.

See Gatineau, “A Green City in you’re the Palm of Your Hand,” 24p. (Accessed November 10, 2021)

http://www.villelapeche.qc.ca/downloads/Politiques/2019-09-18-plan-strategique-an-web.pdf

19 See, for example, MRC Pontiac, “Pontiac Vision 2020; Strategic Plan,” http://www.mrcpontiac.qc.ca/wp-

content/uploads/Diagnostic-MRC-de-Pontiac_en.pdf

and MRC des Collines, “Transcollines Strategic Plan 2019-2023,” 16p. (Accessed November 10, 2021).

https://transcollines.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Planif_Strategique_synthe%CC%80se_AN.pdf. Most

masterplans are short-term and topically focused. The municipality of La Pêche is quite unique in featuring a more

sophisticated integrated plan linking ecological, economic, social and cultural goals, but the plan is largely

aspirational and theoretical rather than identifying specific projects or laying out concrete metrics. See « 2019-2022

Strategic Plan, » 21p. (Accessed October 12, 2021) http://www.villelapeche.qc.ca/downloads/Politiques/2019-09-

18-plan-strategique-an-web.pdf. Gatineau covers just under half of the riding’s population, but only recently adopted

a climate plan that is general and does not factor in the future increase in the price of carbon or climate mitigation.

See Gatineau, “A Green City in you’re the Palm of Your Hand,” 24p. (Accessed November 10, 2021)

http://www.villelapeche.qc.ca/downloads/Politiques/2019-09-18-plan-strategique-an-web.pdf

20 Current master plans, like those for Cantley and Chelsea, neighbors but very different sociologically, do have a

focus on the natural environment, but only make cosmetic reference to the challenge of climate change and do not

incorporate the impacts of rising carbon prices, new subsidies or major public investments in green infrastructure.

See Cantley (municipality), “2005 Masterplan Summary,” (accessed October 12, 2021)

https://www.cantley.ca/sites/default/files/docs/summarymasterplan2005.pdf and Chelsea (municipality),

“Masterplan and Bylaws,” (accessed November 12, 2021) https://www.chelsea.ca/en/residents/service-

municipaux/planning/by-laws

2. Form Strategic Advisory Groups

Second, following the consultation process, the MP would work with key regional players, like the MRCs

to commit to a new round of planning to align different masterplans with the 2050 net-zero goal. Pontiac

has abundant expertise. Various citizen groups, environmental organizations, advocacy groups and

consultants are at the forefront of the innovation and could partner with city officials augment the

capacity of local communities. At the MRC level, it might be beneficial to assemble a formal strategic

advisory group with experts from complementary fields like construction, agriculture and fluvial

engineering to assemble tool kits to abet strategic planning, build portfolios of innovative projects and

help local leaders craft innovative projects uniquely tailored to their community. 21

3. Prepare a Holistic Regional Framework

Third, the MP can form a select committee, perhaps drawing from the work of strategic advisory groups,

to prepare a holistic regional framework that highlights innovative solutions in various communities, and

illuminates strategic opportunities for regional development. Although not a plan in the sense of being

binding, this framework could help local governments, entrepreneurs and stakeholders to synchronize

their investments as they adapt to a lower carbon environment on a regional scale that often falls between

the cracks of the existing structure of government. Given multiple jurisdictions, this strategic framework

could also help to illuminate potential sources for financing, smoothing inter-jurisdictional collaboration

and identifying strategic opportunities for regional investment.

The strategic framework for a green and prosperous Pontiac will have three parts: green transition;

economic prosperity; and social prosperity.

21 See the remarkable, useful resource prepared by the UMQ, “Platforme municipale pour le climat,” 45p. (Accessed

October 11, 2021) plateforme-municipale-climat-8avril21.pdf (umq.qc.ca)

A. A Green Pontiac

Under the umbrella of a green Pontiac, many topics can be broach, such as:

• Water Protection: The Ottawa and Gatineau River Valleys traverse multiple

jurisdictions requiring an integrated approach relative to environmental monitoring,

enforcing regulations and managing recreational use to maintain water quality and

shoreline protection. Will climate change and increasing tourism and development

require the development of a more robust structure of governance?

• Ecological Restoration: Global warming and increasing recreational use will put

increasing pressure on particular ecosystems including lakes, the Parc de Gatineau. How

can all levels of government collaborate to protect wetlands, other centers of biodiversity

and create corridors that strike a better balance between nature and human activity, while

also implementing smart design principles that mimic nature to reduce costs, suppress

fires, limit wind damage and control flooding?

• Park de Gatineau: A vast natural reserve close to a densely populated NCR, this

national jewel attracts millions of visitors but the vast majority visit a small part of the

Eastern side of Gatineau Park, from Aylmer to Wakefield creating congestion, pollution

and erosion. How can the weight of human activity and tourist dollars be more evenly

distributed inside the park and across the riding?

• Integrated Disaster Response: Extreme weather events will intensify and accelerate

infrastructural damage so to what extent can the Pontiac riding pool its resources to build

a more effective response to fire, storm and flood damage?

• Reforestation and Carbon Capture: Most of Pontiac was once forest and reforestation

represents the most economical strategy for carbon capture and the financing for such

initiatives is likely to accelerate in the upcoming decade. How can MRCs and

communities develop a comprehensive land-use plans that facilitates reforestation with

sustainable forestry, more intensive tourism, more intensive recreation and development,

with ecological preservation?

B. An Economically Prosperous Pontiac

A green economy needs to tackle key issues such as labor shortage and infrastructure. For example:

• Infrastructural Investment: Not only Federal and provincial financing, but more

significantly private investment will fuel the overhaul of Pontiac’s economy. How can

local entrepreneurs, communities and workers profit from this investment in cleaner

energy, electrification of freight, buildout of the smart grid and zero emission

construction?

• Intra-Regional Transportation: The public transportation network is currently more

effective at connecting Northern Gatineau suburbs to offices in downtown Ottawa, poor

at connecting commuters between Aylmer, Hull, Gatineau, Chelsea and Val de Monts

and poor at linking outlying areas like Shawville, Low, Maniwaki and Fort Coulonges to

the NCR. How can emerging trends in electrification, big data analytics and autonomous

vehicles and car-pooling systems be harnessed to promote more effective mobility?

• Piloting Demographic Trends: The smart-grid and broadband rollout, along with

teleworking will accelerate a trend of wealthy outmigration from expensive urban areas

towards more remote areas. How can this migration be channeled to meet the net-zero

challenge, fuel economic development in more remote communities and be reconciled

with a pressing need for more affordable housing?

• Education and Vocational Training: The workforce of the future will require new skills

and the NCR features many top-ranked Cegeps, colleges and universities. How can the

urban footing of educational institutions be retooled with distance learning technologies

to promote next generation skills that will be in high demand inside high schools and

apprenticeship programs with entrepreneurs in remote communities?

• Tourism Network: Tourism will be a growing industry and Pontiac’s nature and history

are attractive and within range. How could investments in the three MRCs be better

coordinated to provide better branding and integration to attract more visitors from the

NRC, appeal to the tastes of new migrants and create critical spans to spur a cycle of new

business investment particularly in remoter areas that have not fully benefited from this

secular trend?

• Labor Shortage and Immigration: The Canadian economy is showing signs of a strong

recovery, but the boom in construction has led to a shortage in skilled workers. We need

a stronger plan and common action to welcome talented workers to our communities, find

them affordable housing, and ensure their integration into our communities.

C. A Socially Prosperous Pontiac

• Affordable housing: Canadians see owning a home as key to building their future and

joining the middle class. But with rent increasing and housing prices continuing to rise,

too many young people don’t see a clear path to affording the same lives their parents

had. Everyone should have a home to call their own if we want a stable economy

environment in our communities and attract workers. Covid-19 pandemic has further

exposed the acute need for safe and affordable housing in Indigenous communities that

were already facing housing shortages, overcrowding, and a critical need for repairs.

• Healthcare: Lots of rural communities are facing a shortage of doctors, nurse

practitioners, and other health care and social service workers that keep communities

strong. Everyone should have access to primary care.

• Food Security: The global food system will experience major turbulence in the

upcoming decade and extreme weather patterns will cause more crop failures, creating a

need for more local supplier, better risk mitigation and more coordinated programs for

food banks. How can local farmers, consumers and governments collaborate to meet this

mounting challenge?

IV. Calendar

V. Conclusion: A Framework for a Green and Prosperous Pontiac

This paper has sought to paint the challenges and opportunities ahead for this riding’s diverse

constituents, businesses and communities. While Pontiac is not a jurisdiction, the MP, representing

various constituencies, is in a unique position to mobilize local stakeholders. The goal of this framework

is to facilitate the implementation of Canada's climate, economic and social plan, to reconcile this plan

with the concrete realities of the Pontiac. It would do so by identifying the best practices used in

communities across Quebec and Canada, developing a toolkit to abet smaller communities with long-

range planning, helping local actors to better anticipate the shocks ahead, effectively tapping subsidies for

decarbonization, and collaborating across jurisdictions and to reimagine our communities.

One overriding principle of the green new deal concept is that no citizen can be left behind. While the

challenges are great, if we work together and pool our strengths, we can re-engineer our economy to build

a prosperous Pontiac for our children. What we do in the next few years matters. Today’s leaders will

shape the structure of our communities for the next sixty years. Will future generations be overwhelmed

by the rising tide of climate change, unemployment and high food costs, or will our children live long and

prosperous lives in vibrant communities?

Annex

Advancing the Climate Resilience of Canadian Infrastructure: A review

of literature to inform the way forward, IISD REPORT

Source : Darren Swanson et al. “Advancing the Climate Resilience of Canadian Infrastructure,”

https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2021-07/climate-resilience-canadian-infrastructure-en.pdf

For Further Reading

Brown, L., World on the Edge: How to Prevent Environmental and Economic Collapse. 1st ed. New

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“Electrifying Freight: Pathways to Accelerating the Transition,”

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Pathways-to-Accelerating-the-Transition.pdf

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Low Carbon Future,” blog (accessed October 31, 2021) https://climatechoices.ca/reports/sink-or-swim/

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https://www.cantley.ca/sites/default/files/docs/summarymasterplan2005.pdf

Chelsea (municipality), “Masterplan and Bylaws,” (accessed November 12, 2021)

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URBAN STRATEGY FOR CANADA, FEBRUARY 2018, 32p. (Accessed November 10, 2021).

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content/uploads/Diagnostic-MRC-de-Pontiac_en.pdf

MRC des Collines, “Transcollines Strategic Plan 2019-2023,” 16p. (Accessed November 10, 2021).

https://transcollines.ca/wp-

content/uploads/2019/07/Planif_Strategique_synthe%CC%80se_AN.pdf

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